UK Government Finds Mental Health Costs Economy £99 Billion Annually!

A new review called 'Thriving at Work,' commissioned by UK Prime Minister Teresa May in January, says poor mental health is costing employers up to £42bn a year with an annual economic cost of £99bn! This comes as the report, written by Lord Dennis Stevenson and Paul Farmer, chief executive of Mind and chair of the NHS Mental Health Taskforce, revealed that 300,000 people lose their jobs every year due to long-term mental health issues. In response to this, Teresa May said:

"It is only by making this an everyday concern for everyone that we change the way we see mental illness so that striving to improve your mental health - whether at work or at home - is seen as just as positive as improving our physical wellbeing."

Looking at this report, we have to appreciate that behind the statistics are real people and real lives, who are each suffering and which are being damaged the longer this problem is not dealt with - which makes this such a very important issue and encouraging to hear it now being addressed further.

The more we avoid looking at the realities of our mental and emotional problems, the more we are effectively allowing the costs of those problems to become worse. Rather than soldier on, we need to stop and empathise more with ourselves and appreciate why we're avoiding something enough to face it and decide to seek a solution, including asking for help. After all, how much is avoiding that problem with our boss, our partner, our children, our finances or anything else central to our lives going to cost us in future if not addressed today?To read more on this story at Sky News, click here...